Frugal Fajitas

Fajitas are a frugal way to use up leftovers, but have a fresh, interesting, and satisfying meal all at the same time!

Last night I had some leftover pot roast. Now, in a family our size (which comprises six men or near-men), leftover meat of any kind is rare. But I found a great sale on pot roast, and slow-cooked two of them all afternoon for dinner. There was about half a roast left, and so I thought I would try it out in fajitas. It turned out to be a winner.

Fajitas are frugal because you literally can use up any meat you've got on hand - chicken, beef, pork, even fish. And when sweet peppers are on sale, or you grow your own, it makes for a super-cheap meal that most everyone loves!

Let's make up a batch of fajitas...pot roast-style!

First, thinly slice up several different sweet peppers - I used reds, yellows, and orange ones. Also slice up some onions. Toss these in a heavy-bottom fry pan (I always use cast iron for fajitas!) with some oil and toss some salt on them to help them get juicy.

Mix all of the pretty veggies together and saute about 5 minutes. I only cook my peppers and onions half-way. I find that they are sweeter, crisper, and more wonderful in a stir-fry or fajita this way. Sometimes we do what I call semi-raw fajitas, in which I cook the meat but not the veggies at all - it's super delicious! But this night I cooked the peppers/onions...in fact, I cooked them a bit too much for my liking. But that's all a matter of opinion, so you just do what your family will like!

Now we're going to toss in some seasonings. What? You don't have fajita seasoning on hand? No problem! You probably have all of the ingredients (and none of the bad ones they so like to include in the packages!) right in your cupboard. And the good thing is, it's not a mystery - you can add this and that and still come up with a great fajita mix. So let's see what we've got here:


Looking clockwise from the bottom center, we have minced onions, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, Italian seasoning, and chipotle seasoning. What I didn't picture was the tablespoon or so of cornstarch I usually add, because I also use this as my taco seasoning, and that helps it to all gel nicely together. I also, after it was mixed together, added more chili powder - fajitas are good if they're heavy on the chili! :-) Here you can see the proportions of the ingredients - you can make any size batch based on this! You can also remove things, add others. For instance, maybe you don't have chipotle seasoning. You could add some red pepper flakes or add a dash or two of Tabasco to the finished fajitas! Or maybe you have onion powder, and not dried minced onions. Or no dry onions at all. No problem. You won't miss it a bit. This recipe is flexible!

Stir all of the spices together in a bowl...

...and then add several heaping spoonfuls to the veggies. Toss them lightly, and then remove them from the pan.

Next I sliced the roast up thinly and added it to the pan. I didn't clean it out between the seasoned veggies, just added a bit more canola oil. I sprinkled some salt and a touch of the fajita mix on top of the pieces and tossed them until they were juicy and hot. If I was using raw meat, I would at this point cook the meat up, and add a bit of seasoning. But in this case, it just needed to be warmed through.

Add the veggies into the meat pan...

And give them a good toss...

We served our fajitas with sour cream, shredded cheese, tortillas, and sliced tomatoes (not pictured!).

Wrap 'em on up...and....

ENJOY!


Until we journey together again,

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Few things say "Country Farm Fare" more than homemade buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy! What was once a special treat has become a regular on our frugal menu...and there is such versatility to it, you can make it fit practically any budget!

To serve our family of 10, I made the biscuits large and plentiful. There were even a couple left over, so if you're a smaller clan, feel free to halve it! But these beauties are great toasted the next day, so don't feel like you have to!

SallyMolly Farms Buttermilk Biscuits

In a large bowl, mix the following:

6 cups flour

2 1/2 t. salt

2 T. baking powder

1 1/2 t. baking soda

Cut in 1 cup of butter until the flour mixture is coarse.

Add 1 stick melted butter

Gently mix in 2 cups buttermilk

On a floured counter or board, gently fold the dough into two balls, flatten (or roll) the dough into 3/4" circles. Cut out with a large (2-3") round cutter and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-14 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits are cooked fully through.

You're going to want to top these lovelies with delicious, caloric sausage gravy. We learned how to make this several years ago from dear friends, and it's been a family favorite ever since. The ingredients? Simple! Sausage, butter, flour, half and half, and salt/pepper!

Brown up 3 pounds of ground breakfast sausage, remove it with a slotted spoon to a bowl, and add about 5 tablespoons of butter to the remaining sausage...grease. There, I said it. Yes, you keep the grease, and you use it!

:-)

Melt the two together, and drop in 1/2 cup flour. Whisk until combined and then begin adding the half-and-half, one large splash after the other. Stir and stir, whisk and whisk, until you have added 3 quarts of half-and-half to the mixture. It should remain thick if you go slowly! Salt to taste, and add plenty of black pepper. Toss in the sausage, stir well, and taste. Is it good? Thick enough? If it's not looking thick, before I add the sausage in, I toss it with about 1/2 cup of flour...then add it in, and it does some thickening for you! If it's too thick (and this is a problem for you?) add more half-and-half!

Then split the biscuits in half, pour on the gravy, and have at it. You can always exercise in the morning!

Some variations:

• Buy the biscuits in a tube and just make the gravy.
• Use milk instead of half and half.
• Use less sausage and it will be a thinner, but still delicious gravy!
• We made this for dinner, but obviously it makes a perfect breakfast or brunch!

We had some fruit in our fruit cupboard, a pineapple that really needed to be eaten and some oranges, that we cut up into a sweet fruit platter. Trust me when I say that this meal cries out for something light to accompany it!

Until we journey together again...